


Take a Peep into the Future

by angel



Series: Bookstore AU [2]
Category: White Collar RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, M/M, Permanent Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2017-12-28 08:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel/pseuds/angel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt reads the neighborhood kids, and then he and Tim have a serious discussion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take a Peep into the Future

Tim quietly made his way out of the office on Wednesday afternoon. A major deal had fallen through that morning, and he was beyond frustrated with work, so he'd canceled the rest of his appointments for the day so that he could recharge for the rest of the week. After three weeks of work on the new Pennington Hotel blueprints, the hotel board decided to go with a rival firm. It made him want to punch a wall or bludgeon his computer.

Instead, he drove aimlessly around the city for an hour before he found himself sitting at a stoplight two blocks from Have Book Will Travel. He slid into the first open parking spot but doubled back to Willie's bistro to pick up something for him and Matt for lunch. 

When he opened the door to the bookstore, there wasn't anyone at the counter. That was odd until he heard Matt's voice coming from the back corner of the shop.

_"On the night we speak of all the children were once more in bed. It happened to be Nana's evening off, and Mrs. Darling had bathed them and sung to them till one by one they had let go her hand and slid away into the land of sleep."_

Tim peeked around the corner of one of the taller bookshelves to see Matt sitting in a chair in the children's section, holding a book so that he could read and show the pictures at the same time. There were four young boys and two girls sitting on the rug in front of him, each holding a small stuffed toy of some kind, and all of them were giving him their full attention.

Matt flipped the page and continued, _"All were looking so safe and cosy that she smiled at her fears now and sat down tranquilly by the fire to sew."_

Tim watched as one of the younger boys stood up and reached for the book, clearly trying to point something out. All he managed to do was trip over Matt's gigantic foot, which made him cry even though Matt caught him with one hand before he could actually hit the floor. 

"Hey, Jeff, it's okay." Matt pulled the little boy up onto his knee and turned the book so that Jeff could see it. "What did you want to show me? Did you see Peter Pan in the picture?"

Jeff nodded and turned his tear-stained face into Matt's chest. The boy was no longer making a sound, but he'd blushed a deep red in embarrassment. 

Matt let him stay where he was as he turned the book back toward the other kids and kept reading, _"It was something for Michael, who on his birthday was getting into shirts. The fire was warm, however, and the nursery dimly lit by three night-lights, and presently the sewing lay on Mrs. Darling's lap. Then her head nodded, oh, so gracefully. She was asleep. Look at the four of them, Wendy and Michael over there, John here, and Mrs. Darling by the fire. There should have been a fourth night-light."_

Tim didn't notice that Marsha was standing beside him until she whispered, "He's a natural with them."

"Yeah. Yeah, he is. Does he do this a lot?"

She gave him a strange look. "Every Wednesday. The nannies and moms in the neighborhood bring their kids in, and Willie provides coffee and cookies. Matt didn't tell you?"

Tim shrugged and turned his attention back to Matt. Jeff was sitting up and trying to peer around the edge of the book to get a look at the illustration, but Matt had an arm wrapped around him to keep him from falling and that was hindering the little boy's efforts.

_"While she slept she had a dream. She dreamt that the Neverland had come too near and that a strange boy had broken through from it. He did not alarm her, for she thought she had seen him before in the faces of many women who have no children. Perhaps he is to be found in the faces of some mothers also. But in her dream he had rent the film that obscures the Neverland, and she saw Wendy and John and Michael peeping through the gap."_

Matt glanced up and saw him, so Tim waved and smiled. It hadn't been his intention to stand by the whole time and watch, but it was mesmerizing, listening to Matt's dulcet voice as it rose and fell to keep the kids interested.

 _"The dream by itself would have been a trifle, but while she was dreaming the window of the nursery blew open, and a boy did drop on the floor. He was accompanied by a strange light, no bigger than your fist, which darted about the room like a living thing; and I think it must have been this light that wakened Mrs. Darling."_ Matt looked down at the kids and asked, "Who do you think this is?"

"Peter Pan!" the kids responded immediately.

One of the little girls held up her stuffed doll, a replica of TInkerbell, and shouted, "Tink!"

Matt laughed and nodded. "You're all right. It's Peter Pan and Tinkerbell."

Jeff wiggled off Matt's leg and hugged his stuffed doll, which Tim could now see was a replica of Peter Pan, close to his chest. 

_"She started up with a cry, and saw the boy, and somehow she knew at once that he was Peter Pan. If you or I or Wendy had been there we should have seen that he was very like Mrs. Darling's kiss. He was a lovely boy, clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that ooze out of trees; but the most entrancing thing about him was that he had all his first teeth. When he saw she was a grown-up, he gnashed the little pearls at her."_ Matt grinned, demonstrating the last line, and closed the book. "That's it for chapter one."

The kids all protested with cries of, "More!" and "Mr. Matt, please!" and "Peter Pan!"

Matt only chuckled and pointed to a small card table nearby. "There's cookies. Chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin."

The nannies and mothers had been drinking coffee and talking quietly nearby but moved to help the kids with the snacks while Matt got to his feet and made his way toward Tim. 

"Hey," Matt greeted. "Everything okay?"

Tim hesitated when he realized that his mood from the terrible morning had dissipated. He smiled again, wanting to kiss the younger man but holding back in their present company. "It is now."

Matt frowned. "Let me say bye to the kids and then we can talk in the office."

"You have an office?"

"It's more of a closet," Marsha said, stepping up next to Tim again. "You two should go out and have lunch. I can man the store."

Tim held up the paper bag in his hand. "I have no idea what's in here. Willie boxed it up and charged my card without letting me see the detailed receipt."

Marsha laughed. "Sounds like Willie."

"I'll just be a minute." Matt headed back toward the kids, who all bounced excitedly and thanked him for the story with a minimal of prompting from their caregivers. 

Tim turned to Marsha. "Thanks for giving us some time."

She waved him off and all but rolled her eyes. "Matt could use some time off more often than not, but he's too stubborn to admit it. And I saw your face when you came in. If you can keep him out the rest of the afternoon, then I'll finish out the day."

Tim's brows furrowed. "Is something wrong?"

"He's a bit of a workaholic."

Tim had already figured this out for himself. Sometimes he called Matt to say good night only to discover that he was still at the bookstore, doing paperwork or checking inventory. Once Matt had fallen asleep at his desk and answered the phone so groggily that Tim had been very close to driving down to the Village and dragging him home.

"Despite anything I say, he still shows up every day whether he schedules me to work or not." 

"I'll see what I can do. Thanks, Marsha."

She put a hand on his bicep and gave it a squeeze. "You're good for him, and I've seen how he looks at you. Don't fuck it up. Please."

He didn't know what to say to that so he just nodded and patted her hand. He had no intention of doing anything to jeopardize what he had with Matt. 

Matt tapped the back of his leg with a crutch and grinned when Tim turned to look at him. "Ready to talk?"

"Yeah, let's go. Marsha said she'd take over here so we can go eat. Maybe back at your place?"

Matt nodded and said, "Marsha, I'll be--"

"Get out of here," she called as she headed back to the counter.

They were both quiet as they stepped onto the sidewalk and turned toward Matt's apartment. 

"What's wrong?" Matt asked before they made it to the end of the block. He sounded concerned, and Tim hated to make him worry.

"I just had a bad day at work. Lost that hotel account I've been working on."

"Damn, I'm sorry. Your building looked great." 

He'd shown Matt some computer model images of his designs, and he'd been very enthusiastic about the building in general and the individual suites and rooms too. "Thanks."

"I'm not just saying that, Tim. They were really good, and it would have been an amazing building."

"Yeah, well, the Pennington board didn't see it that way. It'll be okay though. We have several projects in the works. I just really wanted to win this one."

Matt nodded. "I know, but you'll get the next one, and it'll be just as amazing."

"Now you're just saying that."

Laughing, Matt just shook his head and led the way inside his apartment building.

Within a few minutes, they were sitting at the table and pulling out the boxes that Willie had packed for them. He'd made them each a sandwich. For Tim, he'd prepared a classic sandwich jambon with ham and cheddar cheese, and for Matt, he'd assembled roasted turkey, bacon and cheddar on a croissant. 

"So," Tim looked across the table and smiled, "you were really great with the kids today."

Matt shrugged. "It's usually the same group of kids every week, and we've all gotten to know each other. They're a lot of fun, and they love every book you show them. I like nurturing that in younger generations."

"Why didn't you tell me about them?"

Matt looked perplexed as he poked at his sandwich. "I don't understand."

"You read to the kids every week, but you've never mentioned them. I was just curious why you haven't."

He dropped his gaze and shrugged again. "No reason."

"Matt?"

"I didn't want to bring kids up yet. This," Matt gestured between them, "is still pretty new, and it seemed like a bad idea."

Now it was Tim's turn to be confused. "You thought we'd what? Fight about kids if you mentioned you read to some every week? That's kind of out of left field, Matt. What's really wrong?"

Matt pushed his plate to the side and looked up, meeting Tim's eyes with his own. "When I was younger, I wanted to have kids some day. Now, I'm… I don't know. With all of this," he gestured to the crutches, "I just don't know anymore."

"Hey, you will be a great father. I've never known you to let anything stop you for doing what you want. It would be hard, but you wouldn't be alone."

Matt looked surprised. Tim was pretty sure his jaw dropped open a little bit. "Do you want to have more kids?"

He pushed his own plate aside and clasped his hands on top of the table. "Alexandra was a surprise, and I didn't know what to do or think about it when Tiff told me, but she's been amazing. I never realized how much I would like being a father to her. I haven't thought about having more kids for a long time, but that doesn't mean I would say no."

Matt took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I've never been with anyone that I wanted to have this discussion with until now. I'm glad you came to the store today, and I'm glad that you brought it up."

Smiling, Tim stood and moved around the table to give Matt a kiss. He ran his fingers through Matt's hair and pulled back just far enough so that he could see Matt's eyes. "I can just imagine what you were like as a child," he said softly in a teasing tone. "All floppy hair and toothy smiles, and then as soon as your parents turned their backs, you were swinging on the chandelier."

Matt chuckled. "You think you've got me pegged, do you?"

"I do."

"I bet you were no picnic either, Timmy DeKay. Out playing ball with the other kids in some dusty lot somewhere with grass-stained knees and tears in your pants from sliding into home."

"So, we were both hellions. At least our kid would know what it's like to play outside."

"True." Matt smiled. "Our kid. I like the sound of that."

"Me too." Tim leaned forward and kissed him again, deeply and passionately. 

~End

Thanks for reading!

Art Credit: Banner by kanarek13

**Author's Note:**

> Title from a line in J.M. Barrie's _Peter Pan_. The text that's read by Matt is from Project Gutenberg's version of _Peter and Wendy_


End file.
